what is finecast made of and why is it rubbish?

[captainbirdbum]

i know loads has been discussed about finecast. everyone has different opinions. some love it some hate it.

i have yet to buy a finecast model that hasn't had a miscast. plus i dropped my venomthrope the other day and its in pieces. worse than when you drop a metal model. it snapped off stand and through the lash whips.

i love resin much much more than metal. easier to glue, convert and paint. but i'd rather have metal than finecast. i think resin models are great from fw. have bought resin models from other companies and am very happy with it. such companies include scibor, hitech, studio miniatures, black scorpion, cool mini or not and a few others and these rarely have miscasts or problems. seem much better quality and in most cases good value for money.

so what i want to know is what is finecast made of? why so many mistakes? if other companies can produce quality resin products that don't cost an arm and a leg why is it finecast is so flimsy, poor quality and expensive? why can't gw use similar compounds to other companies?

i'm not knowledgable in these things but if somone can clear this up, it may make me less annoyed next time i get home and open yet another poorly cast model.

[elcapitan]

As far as I know it's some sort of really cheap resin. I only have two finecast models, and one of them has bubbles. Not impressed, luckily they weren't serious.

Pros:
Material is lighter than metal
Should be easier to assemble larger models without pinning

Cons:
Material is fragile
In extreme cases can melt
Is prone to air bubble faults
Despite being a cheaper material than metal GW charges more

[Grythic]

I heard it's a mix (or hybrid if you prefer) of plastic and resin. But i can't back that up. If thats true, issues are probally caused by them not getting the mix right yet. I immagine the idea behind it is that a mix with plastic makes it abit cheaper while it should still hold higher detail.

Personally i never had a problem with the metal models, and i dont have a problem with finecast either, any defects i've had are easily fixable with greenstuff, which i dont mind that at all, or are small enough that you can ignor them.

[cookies]

The answer to this finecast situation: Make it out of plastic. Duh. Its cheaper, easier to produce, and really, I don't see any more detail in finecast then I did in metal models.

Bad things about finecast:

1) Flash, makes it look ugly, and its hard to notice until you go to paint (For me, anyway)

2) Can melt, one of my resin zoans was left under a lamp and when I picked it up, I then had a Leananthrope.

3) Air bubbles look ugly

4) Pain to assemble, the models joints are just poorly designed

5) Cheaper material, more money charged.

[Rakuall]

It's my (un-researched) understanding that FC is a 'plasticized resin' (whatever that means) and is 'safer to work with' than the usual model resin (most companies advise a mask, right?). Why does it need to be safer to shave, file, and cut? 'Cause GW is marketing a 15+ game to kids barely out of diapers.

[Hive Carnithrope]

I hate Finecast. I delayed buying one because of all the bad reviews, finally bought one, I did check it over as best I could before buying, but when I got it, just awful. My poor GS skills meant my cleanup wasn't great.

Since then, I only buy metals from Ebay and such.

I have had literally no problems with metal. Tiny bits of flash. No mouldlines. Easy to paint. Good weight (not REALLY heavy). Easy to assemble.

As long as you use a decent superglue, it will be fine. I have dropped an unpinned Zoanthrope on the floor (by mistake, of course) and all that broke was one tiny vent. I hadn't varnished it so a little chipping, but otherwise fine.

So yeah. I wish they had experimented more before releasing a sub par product... and all the excuses that they were working out the kinks are wrong, nothing has changed in almost a year.

[rehkal]

I have to laugh at most of the complaints in this thread.

While some are more legit than others, most reasons people hate finecast are just their own lack of care for the models.

The flash on finecast just peels right off with a light touch. I dread having to go through a metal model to find all the slivers of metal left behind by the fill ports. Most of the time those are bent over and pressed into the model to the point they look like they belong there. They tend to simply break off the finecast models long before I ever see the model.

Mold lines come off easier (even easier than on plastic!) with a light scrape of an exacto knife. I've had metal models where the two halves were offset from each other, not something easy to fix.

Bubbles fill easily with liquid green stuff. I think the reason you see so many is because GW didn't make new molds for the finecast... They simply continued using the metal molds from what I understood. There also could be some problems with their mixing processes that cause the air bubbles.

As for melting your model..... You just have to take care not to put your models in a place where they will melt. Trust me, I've done it. My 18 sets of FW shrike wings are constantly reshaping themselves when I stupidly forget my case in the back of my car. But with a hair dryer, some cold water, and a little patience. They are good as when I originally reshaped them.

And ultimately if something is messed up too badly. Talk to GW and they give you a new one.

[The New AIDS]

I definitely prefer finecast. Because I have started playing dark eldar, my finecast models are dogged by their pointedness and skinniness, but they don't chip once painted, have way more tensile strength, don't bend out of shape in the storage container, and are WAY easier to assemble. My hands are naturally shaky, so trying to hold two metal pieces together until the glue sets is really difficult for me.

The biggest issue I've has is that the sprue my Incubi's weapons came warped, so the klaives were bent. I just used boiling water to bend them back to shape.

[robomummy]

The flash on finecast just peels right off with a light touch.

thats because the material is weaker. this isnt an advantage if the model can break easily (which happens frequently with the thin parts of the finecast models I have bought.

Bubbles fill easily with liquid green stuff. I think the reason you see so many is because GW didn't make new molds for the finecast... They simply continued using the metal molds from what I understood. There also could be some problems with their mixing processes that cause the air bubbles.

Yeah they fill in easily but I'd rather not have to buy something that GW made to make up for the lack of good quality control. Also GW does have to make new moulds for the models. you cant just put the plastic/resin mix that they use in a metal mould they needed to use new moulds (which is actually one of the legitimate and understandable reasons for the price increase).
Bubbles happen all the time in finecast because it still was a relatively new system and hey are still supposedly working out the bugs in it.

In short finecast isnt a good substitute for metal in my opinion.

[cookies]

Yes, finecast is way to fragile and brittle, I transported my FC Hive Tyrant in a shoebox with lots of newspaper, it came out with some of the tail broken off and a noticably large chip on the horn. It was solved with some superglue, but my opinion of FC was permanently scarred, no matter what anybody says.

[Bot]

Finecast? I don't know... What I don't think is cool is that GW know it is a problem and then makes money on their Finecast mistakes, through liquid green stuff.

[N.I.B.]

I think Finecast is great, got my first models, two Broodlords. The flash and mold lines were a breeze to remove, and I love how light the models are. One good thing not mentioned is that they chip less when falling over, than metal models.
Both Broodlords have small holes in their protruding spine things, but small enough to not attract attention.

However, plastic is king, and I do hope all models eventually can be made in plastic.

[Freeman]

As said previously there were issues with miscast in fine cast stuff but these are becoming increasingly rare and in my experience GW stores seems to have early entirely got through the defective stuff. Fine cast doesn't chip like metal and goes together. Thin parts will however snap but this is the case with all plastic models. Overall fine cast had a shakey start but now seems ok. Even while it was bad GW were happy to resolve any problems straight away without any fuss. Models bought off eBay or second party however can't be said the same for. Nowadays I'm reluctant to buy anything in metal.

And seriously guys, if you are struggling to remove the thin flash on these models you should probably not be allowed a hobby knife in the first place.

[Hive Carnithrope]

Feb 9, 2012 17:02:44 GMT Freeman said:

As said previously there were issues with miscast in fine cast stuff but these are becoming increasingly rare and in my experience GW stores seems to have early entirely got through the defective stuff. Fine cast doesn't chip like metal and goes together. Thin parts will however snap but this is the case with all plastic models. Overall fine cast had a shakey start but now seems ok. Even while it was bad GW were happy to resolve any problems straight away without any fuss. Models bought off eBay or second party however can't be said the same for. Nowadays I'm reluctant to buy anything in metal.

And seriously guys, if you are struggling to remove the thin flash on these models you should probably not be allowed a hobby knife in the first place.

Err... no. There is more flash on FC than metals. Metals is just a tiny strip of metal, attached at one end, easily pulled off with just your fingers. FC has proper flash that does need a knife and IS difficult to remove.

Insulting us won't solve anything. Maybe YOU'RE and international knife throwing champion, but we know what we are doing.

[rehkal]

Feb 9, 2012 17:41:07 GMT Hive Carnithrope said:

Feb 9, 2012 17:02:44 GMT Freeman said:

As said previously there were issues with miscast in fine cast stuff but these are becoming increasingly rare and in my experience GW stores seems to have early entirely got through the defective stuff. Fine cast doesn't chip like metal and goes together. Thin parts will however snap but this is the case with all plastic models. Overall fine cast had a shakey start but now seems ok. Even while it was bad GW were happy to resolve any problems straight away without any fuss. Models bought off eBay or second party however can't be said the same for. Nowadays I'm reluctant to buy anything in metal.

And seriously guys, if you are struggling to remove the thin flash on these models you should probably not be allowed a hobby knife in the first place.

Err... no. There is more flash on FC than metals. Metals is just a tiny strip of metal, attached at one end, easily pulled off with just your fingers. FC has proper flash that does need a knife and IS difficult to remove.

Insulting us won't solve anything. Maybe YOU'RE and international knife throwing champion, but we know what we are doing.

Now I'm starting to think you are confused. I have never, ever had a piece metal flashing I could simply pull off the model.

And all the flashing on the finecast models literally just flakes off at the lightest touch. And mold lines are far easier to remove than on metal too.